This invention relates in general to electronic voting systems and more specifically to an electronic voting system including an electronic optical medium for storing data thereon.
Until recently, elections for public office have been typically carried out using a plurality of mechanical voting machines which incremented mechanical counters corresponding to the candidates for office as voters cast their ballots. As a result, running totals were maintained at each machine corresponding to each candidate, and at the end of the election the counters from the various machines were manually read and tabulated to determine an election outcome. With recent advances in electronics, electronic voting machines have been proposed which do away with the cumbersome tabulations common with the mechanical voting machines.
Prior devices which have been developed in an attempt to automate voting by incorporating advances in electronics include De Phillipo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,106, Narey et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,780, and Moldovan, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,353. De Phillipo discloses a microprocessor based electronic voting machine with a scratch pad memory for storing data and contemplates a permanent memory of the conventional magnetic variety for storing the contents of the scratch pad memory. De Phillipo also appears to contemplate optical links in place of telephone lines for connecting a plurality of districts to a central polling station. Narey et al. describes a ballot tallying system employing a series of memories, including a digital ballot image memory and a digital totals memory. An opto-electronic sensor is employed for sensing ballot cards. Moldovan, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,353, discloses a microcomputer based electronic voting machine employing magnetic tapes for permanently recording ballots cast by voters.
Other electronic voting devices which have incorporated various security features to prevent voting fraud include Boram, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,641,240 and 4,641,241, Carson, U. S. Pat. No. 4,649,264, and Luther, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,643. Boram '240 and '241 disclose a memory cartridge for an electronic voting system which includes electrically erasable read only memory (EEROM) and non-electrically erasable read only memory (EPROM). To prevent alteration of data contained in the EPROM, the EPROM contains a fuse which is blown at the end of the election. Carson describes a portable self-contained electronic voting machine which permanently stores data on an EPROM cartridge by "burning" the data onto the EPROM. Luther discloses an electronic voting machine which stores data in a computer memory and utilizes a locking mechanism to prevent voting fraud.
Hice and Narey, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,578,572 and 4,813,708 respectively, describe generally reading devices. Hice discloses a microprocessor-based code printing and reading system used for voter registration. Narey discloses a ballot for use with a scanning device.
Nevertheless, problems common to both mechanical and electronic voting machines still remain, including perhaps the most pervasive problem of preventing unauthorized access and tampering with votes recorded by the voting machines. Further, magnetically recorded data have relatively short shelf lives, often requiring copying to new tapes every three years. Magnetic media are also susceptible to electromagnetic radiation and are inherently fragile. For example, if the surface of a floppy disk is marred or its magnetic coating worn away, data can be irretrievably lost. Also, stretching and abrasion of magnetic tape surfaces can likewise result in lost data. Similarly, EPROM recorded data can be erased by exposing the EPROM to ultraviolet light, therefore requiring sealing of the EPROM in a light-opaque case to assure the contents of the EPROM can only be written to once. Magnetic media and the like are often relatively low density, therefore increasing the physical size and resulting in long access times when storing large amounts of data.
A need therefore exists for an improved voting system which can store large amounts of data on a comparatively small media. Also desired is an improved voting system which can store data in a secure manner, wherein the data storage media is unerasable once written thereto. The data storage media should have a long shelf life and be highly resistant to damage. Additionally, the data storage media should be immune to electromagnetic interference.